Korea may field joint ice hockey team in Winter Games

Bengaluru, January 13: The Winter Olympics next month will usher in a new wave of camaraderie in the bilateral ties between North Korea and South Korea as the two nations are contemplating fielding a joint women's ice hockey team.

It was only recently that North Korea decided to compete in the Winter Games to be held in the South Korean city of Pyeongchang from February 9 to 25.

North Korea's International Olympics Committee official confirmed it is considering South Korea's proposal for sending a combined team.

However, South Korea's unification ministry and sports and tourism ministry both said they have no knowledge of the matter.

Meanwhile, a senior South Korean unification ministry official said that North Korea has also proposed working-level talks on the prospects of sending its performance 'art' group to the Winter Games.

"North Korea sent a notification suggesting to have working-level talks at the Tongil Pavilion on the North Korean side of the truce village of Panmunjom on January 15 to discuss about sending its performance group," said the ministry statement.

The ministry said the North wanted to also propose another date for working-level talks about the Games.

Meanwhile, the torch for the 2018 Pyeongchang Games arrived in Seoul for a four-day relay event throughout the capital city.

The torch relay will be held in the city until Tuesday (January 16) in a course that spans 103 kilometers, with some 600 torchbearers joining the race, according to officials at the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

It marks the first time in nearly 30 years for the capital city to hold a torch relay event since the 1988 Summer Olympics held in Seoul.

(With Agency inputs).